Mark Making

With these studies, using the life drawing lessons, I was able to consider how I use my pencil. Again these are loose, and so I use the familiar loose linework but in some cases I adopt varied manner of creating tonal value, which adds some measure of depth and shape to my drawings.


These quick head studies were made by using the edge of the pencil, holding it almost like a pallet knife. My tonal strokes, particularly on the neck area, create these nice bold lines, most of which flow in the same direction which creates an almost cross hatch feel.

The canteen is a very useful place to make very quick observations of human gestures, something with which I hoped to focus on with this project. Alot of these thumbnails are devoid of any detail, with the intention of removing the line work and just putting down as quick as possible the basic gesture of the character.

Another thing I particularly enjoy drawing is multiple subjects inhabiting the same space. You have to you use your line work carefully in order to seperate the two whilst still making it look like they are both occupying the same space.

Hands are very useful in capturing the gesture and body language of various people. It is often the hands, or feet/leg, that defines the posture instantly. Everything else is secondary.